SLO County’s Measure J-16, a lopsided tax bill, deserves a ‘no’ vote

I urge a “no” vote on Measure J-16.

The local control dollars are unfairly distributed to incorporated areas over unincorporated, as usual for San Luis Obispo County.

Allocation dollars per person in each town should be about the same, excluding special large projects, but it is allocated three to four times greater in the coastal towns including San Luis Obispo than in North County small towns. An example, Morro Bay receives $544 per resident, Pismo Beach $584, while towns like Templeton receive only $125 per resident, San Miguel $214, Los Osos, $175.

We all pay sales tax, but this is unfairly distributed to certain cities over others. If each resident pays sales tax, shouldn’t they each receive roughly equal benefit?

This continues the trend I have seen over the past 14 years of the South County disproportionately receiving more benefit and representation than the North County. A 4-to-1 discrepancy in funding between different towns can’t be justified. It only gets worse when you consider unincorporated areas.

Please vote “no” on this lopsided tax bill.

This story was originally published October 23, 2016 at 2:39 PM with the headline "SLO County’s Measure J-16, a lopsided tax bill, deserves a ‘no’ vote."